The Spirit of the River
by Nayru Elric
Summary: Luckily blonde hair fetches a high price in the Kakariko geisha community, but Link has a secret and aspiring geisha Zelda is determined to find out what that is. BotW character designs. Fem!ZeLink. Three-shot.
1. Night

**Summary:** Luckily blonde hair fetches a high price in the Kakariko geisha community, but Link has a secret and aspiring geisha Zelda is determined to find out what that is.

* * *

 **The Spirit of the River**

* * *

Crisp spring water lapped against her flushed cheeks as the gentle river ran its fingers through her fanned locks. It soaked her golden hair down to the roots. She gazed up at the open sky, sempiternal celadon eyes full of fluffy clouds. Others draped down in rainy shadows of grey miles into the distance.

A slight breeze played her dry bangs across her forehead, carrying the sweet aroma of wildflowers as it tickled her nose. The sun's light was enough to prick up the shiny wet hairs on her arms.

She remembers every detail of that place: the sound of the wind grazing the grass, how the crickets chirped in the silence. How she gasped and giggled in surprise when her mother splashed her with water just a little farther down the stream. All was tranquil and warm.

But that was years ago.

* * *

 **. ~ Night. ~ .**

* * *

She had been found by the river, no home or family to speak of; a ragged pile of clothes covered in mud and tears as she sobbed on the bankside.

Watching from under a parasol on the main street, the Gerudo vai approached her. She took the young Hylian girl into her arms, into the safety and dryness of her cloak as she shielded her against the cold. "It's all right," spoke the deep, calming voice. The girl looked up. "You're safe now. Nothing can harm you." Clinging to the Gerudo like she was her only anchor to this world, the girl's face and body were still wet with tears and rain when she looked up with such admiration and curiosity in those celadon eyes as the vai had never seen before. It took her aback.

She carried the girl back to her dwelling: the most famous teahouse in Kakariko, knowing what would become of her should she be left on the streets – a slave in human trafficking for labor, or worse. So Urbosa took to cleaning the girl: scrubbing her hair until it was gold again, providing her hot food, a soft bed, and clean clothes. The attractive Gerudo vai was the mother of the Vah Naboris teahouse. She guided other young Gerudo in their pursuit of an artist's life, but now in whatever time she could spare, she searched for any sign of the girl's parents.

No trace of them was ever found. Not even a whisper on the breath of the wild, as though they were mere legend, and the girl had been borne by the river she'd been found.

Years passed and the Hylian grew. Rather than being interested in the fashions of the century or the drama of her surrogate Gerudo sisters, she took to splashing in rain puddles, searching the riverside for aquatic organisms and then dropping them into people's clothes as she snickered from the sidelines. She tormented Gerudo, Zoras, Gorons, and Rito alike. On rare occasion, she even tormented humans. _Especially_ humans. There weren't too many of them in these parts. At least, not in the richer districts of Kakariko. It wouldn't be until Urbosa or one of her older sisters loomed over her that she would feel ashamed, knowing the punishment that awaited her – endless chores – and she'd scamper off. She caused all manner of trouble with that untamable spirit of hers.

 _She wasn't raised properly at all,_ Urbosa thought, exhausted from how many apologies she had to facilitate between this wild girl she called daughter and the rest of the city. _I really have my work cut out for me._

But sometimes… Urbosa caught this golden-haired Hylian sitting on the windowsill. She would be watching the mist gather on the outside walls of Vah Naboris, and the colorful world of Kakariko pass by, waiting for a sign that she was here for a reason… And gradually, Urbosa accepted what had to be done.

She had to teach the young girl to become one of them so she could fend for herself. The vibrant innocence and curiosity of those reflective eyes that had charmed Urbosa the moment she scooped her up by the river would have to be tamed for the girl to join the life of an artist of the highest class.

* * *

 **~ Ten years later ~**

* * *

Geisha in soft blues and golds mingled among the men seated around the room in dark blue, greys, and black. The atmosphere was dim and homey, but booming with laughter and the clinking of saké mugs. At a gathering as large as this one, all geisha houses were present: the faction of Gorons from Vah Rudania in the north, the faction of Rito from Vah Medoh to the west, the faction of Zoras from Vah Ruta to the east, and the Gerudo of Vah Naboris from the southern desert. Zelda wouldn't have fit in with any of them, but it was Vah Naboris to which she belonged – there was no faction for humans or Hylians.

Zelda walked between the crowds of people, her wooden geta clicking against the ground. Three young Gerudo maiko – geisha-in-training – approached her, hopping up and down. "Sister Zelda, Sister Zelda! Prince Sidon has been asking for you!"

She rolled her eyes, hanging her head to one side, heavy with pinned-up blonde hair. "Not again. I can't stand that guy – he's _way_ too overwhelming for me."

The tallest and oldest of the maiko shrugged. "Well, he likes you and you get huge tips from him, don't you?"

A second piped up, "Yeah, you should be thankful!"

And the third, "I hope I have as many people asking after me as you when I reach the proper age!"

Zelda waved the younger girls off as she slipped away, the sleeve of her blue-and-gold kimono whooshing in the air covered with sakura petals. The Gerudo maiko were almost as tall as she, despite being five years younger. "Yeah, yeah," she mumbled under her breath, passing a group of Gerudo vai. Gerudo geisha draped around Gerudo officials, indulging each other in food, saké, and provocative jokes while Zelda headed toward the Zoras. Seated on a pillow on the tatami mat at the head and center, Prince Sidon jested with geisha from all factions. _He's so energetic. It's hard to keep up with him._

Fixing her best demure smile on her face, Zelda stepped forward – when she noticed another geisha seated beside the prince of the Zoras.

 _A… Hylian…?_

"Ah, Zelda! Welcome!" Sidon bellowed at her, breaking Zelda's train of thought. "Would you like me to grab you a seat?"

Re-uptaking her trademark smile, Zelda continued forward. "Good evening, Prince Sidon. And to what do I owe the pleasure of joining your company today?" Her tone was warm and laced with intrigue.

The Hylian geisha at Prince Sidon's side left, her kimono glistening in the low light, hurrying back with a pillow for Zelda to sit on.

"Ah, thank you, Link," said Sidon, nodding his head.

Zelda bowed also as she sat down on the provided pillow, smiling and sweeping her kimono under her. Link smiled back beneath white face paint, but said nothing to either of them. In fact, if not for her pointed ears Zelda would have questioned whether Link was Hylian or not. How had she not heard of another Hylian geisha within the ranks of a foreign teahouse? Surely, it would have been big news. Zelda was already sought highly after for being the only of her kind – or so she thought…

Link's kimono was a slightly lighter blue than Zelda's own, with a white and golden sash around her abdomen, and hair a medium blonde-brown color. It was very close to Zelda's own kimono, which was a bright celeste color, contrasted to the sky blue adorned by the Gerudo of Vah Naboris. Since Zelda was the only Hylian there, and any lighter of a color would have looked atrocious, she was given such honors of more elaborate dress. The color of Link's kimono wasn't nearly as vibrant as Zelda's own, but so similar that Zelda couldn't help but question how Link had obtained something of this quality, and from which house.

"Zelda," Sidon cut in, disrupting her thoughts once again. She would have to ask Link later.

"I was just telling Link and the others how delightful your last performance was," said Sidon.

"Oh, thank you, but it wasn't much, really."

Sidon chuckled, looking to the other geisha around him. "See, as I told you! She's just so modest!" They laughed in return, hands to their mouths, the skin around their eyes pinching from humor.

"She _is_ very cute!" a Rito geisha cried.

"I can see why she's popular across all of Hyrule!" said another Zora.

Zelda knew Prince Sidon was annoying at worst, but he always brought up topics that got on her nerves.

Of course, in the life of an artist, one never loses their composure.

She lowered her eyes in an assumed flush, smiling again. "Well, I'm not sure about _that_. I'm still saving my best performance for when my time comes to be chosen by a danna, my sponsor."

Prince Sidon's eyes and mouth widened in exaggerated surprise. He leaned back in his seat, the silver royal necklace around his neck, inlaid with sapphire, glistening in the yellow light. "Oh ho! So you _do_ have an arrogant streak! Well, that is certainly something I never expected to hear from you before!"

The other geisha and Sidon's disciples erupted in laughter again, devouring her in their dissonant coil, but Zelda remarked in a feigned, scolding voice, "Prince Sidon, you know perfectly well the boasting I'm capable of. Or don't tell me you forgot last time when you were drunk off your fins, ready to stand up and start singing on the table? I had to take the spotlight to save you from such a blunder."

Everyone exploded in laughter even louder than when Prince Sidon spoke, so caught up in it that they hardly noticed a Gerudo walked in on the scene.

"Good evening, Sidon," droned the deep voice of Urbosa. "You aren't wasting the time of my most prized geisha, are you?"

"Urbosa, good to see you!" exclaimed Sidon, spreading his arms as the others around him tried to stifle their chortling. "Mipha can't stop going on about the elaborateness of your parties and plays! Your geisha are simply the best! How do you do it?!"

Urbosa made an unamused face at the prince Zora's dramatic display, and it was then Zelda noticed that Link was no longer at Prince Sidon's side. While Urbosa and Sidon chatted, Zelda glanced quickly around the room to see if she could spot Link anywhere, but the Hylian geisha was nowhere to be found, having seemingly vanished into thin air.

"Anyway," said Urbosa, placing a hand on Zelda's shoulder, startling her back to the present for the third time that night, "If you don't mind, I'll be taking this one to visit the danna of other factions."

"Of course, of course," said Sidon, shooing them away with one clawed hand. "I have all the entertainment I need with all the other geisha here after all!"

The laughter of the Zoras and other geisha faded away behind Zelda as Urbosa led her through the crowd. She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank you for that, mother."

"Don't mention it," said Urbosa. "When someone told me you had been called by Prince Sidon, I knew it could only mean trouble." Her fiery eyebrows furrowed in irritation, blue lips pursing. "That idiot, always trying to take more than his full. He isn't terrible or anything, don't get me wrong, but it's a critical time for you – can't be wasting your time with spoiled rich kids who never plan to marry."

Zelda nodded, looking at the floor beneath her kimono and geta. "Yeah…"

The Gerudo vai watched the Hylian out of the corner of one green eye, fingers clenching slightly on Zelda's shoulder. She felt it through the fabric of her kimono. "Maybe we should talk somewhere private, huh…?" Zelda nodded.

Under the verandah overlooking the gardens, Urbosa slid the door to the teahouse shut behind them, sealing away the jubilance of the party. Green boots fell heavily against the wooden boards of the patio as she stood beside Zelda. She asked, "Something is weighing on your mind, isn't it?"

Zelda's gaze remained on the grass past the verandah, and her fingers tightened under the folds of her kimono's long silky sleeves. "Yeah… I'm sorry, mother, for acting like this during a party," she apologized, still not looking at her. "I know… I should be excited to be chosen by a danna – to live a life of luxury, able to practice the arts every day to my heart's content – but…"

The Gerudo acknowledged the conflict on Zelda's face, though masked in white, as she stared at the ground, not yet frozen by October. "Zelda."

This caught Zelda's attention, and her next words made her spin her head up at Urbosa in incredulity, glossed red lips parting. "I knew from the moment I picked you up shivering by the riverside, that you weren't suited for this life." Urbosa looked up at the starry night sky. In a distantly wistful note, she continued on, "I only hoped to save you from whatever the world might do to you, had I left you there to fend for yourself…" Her gaze fell to the gardens below, to the rushing stream. "I searched everywhere for any sign of your parents. No one, in any village here or across Hyrule, had ever heard your name…"

Zelda's nails dug into her palms as her hands tightened into fists. "I know, mother. And I'm trying to fit in with the Gerudo, I really am, but –"

Urbosa watched her with her cool green eyes, smiling gently. "But you _aren't_ Gerudo, Zelda. And despite that, I have no idea where you came from. I don't know what will happen to you once I'm gone, or if you decided to find life somewhere else, outside of Kakariko. I've done my best to raise you up until now. I don't know how else to set up a plan for you." The woman bent down to stroke Zelda's face. Chalky white face paint stained her dark fingers as she pulled her hand away. "Whatever you choose, make sure it's the right choice."

With that, Urbosa left her. Zelda stayed frozen on the verandah, looking out to the gardens drowned in moonlight.

The beginnings of an autumn breeze blew against her face as she placed a hand on the pillar at the verandah's edge, the faint sound of water trickling in her ears. The door slid open and closed again behind her, and Zelda turned around, the beads from her kanzashi tapping against the back of her skull.

Her lips moved on their own. "It's you…"

The other Hylian geisha Link stood there, her cerulean eyes gazing upon her knowingly, striking spite in Zelda's heart. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I might ask you the same thing."

The voice that answered Zelda felt like a punch to the gut. She hadn't been expecting an answer at all, though Link's voice was clear and soft. Sweet like honey. Harsh and mesmerizing like rain. It reminded her of the stream running from the river in the gardens just a little ways behind…

"You're a Hylian, aren't you?" Zelda questioned slowly. "Why haven't I ever seen or heard of you before?"

Link rolled her shoulders back as she looked at the ground. "I'm not sure… Because the world is a big place?"

Suddenly, Zelda found herself spellbound. Beneath the facepaint-mask, within the tweak of Link's eyebrows and smile, Zelda felt something she never had before. A sense of being home, but more than that, a sense of the boundless beauty and freedom that laid in store for her, in places Link had already seen, and was waiting to venture to see once more.

Link's face hardened as she became distracted by something, lifting one hand. "What happened to your makeup?"

Her hand drew nearer, and Zelda resisted the urge to step back, caught aware of her wayward thoughts. She wanted to touch it, that beautiful world past the lovely Kakariko horizon.

Seeing Zelda's nervousness, Link's hand hesitated, mid-air.

Zelda turned away immediately, steadying herself with both hands on the pillar behind her. Trying to distract herself from the blush in her cheeks, Zelda asked, "L-Link… have you seen much of the outside world…?"

Looking out to the elegant gardens – no, past them – Link nodded shortly. "Yes."

"What's it like?" Zelda prodded, leaning forward in excitement.

Link turned back to her, her face lighting up as she explained. "There are many different people all over, places beyond your imagination. Vast deserts, wetlands, the ocean… islands, monsters, treasures beyond compare… There's no way to describe it all."

"Wow…" Zelda shrunk back in defeat again, hands folding beneath her sleeves. "It sounds like you've seen everything. Meanwhile, I've just been here, wasting away…"

"You didn't decide to become a geisha?" came Link's nascent voice.

"No," said Zelda, "I was abandoned by the river as a little girl, so Lady Urbosa kept me. Around ten years old, I became a maiko and now I've been promoted to the rank of a full-time geisha. To entertain men and women alike, and to eventually be purchased by a danna who will set me up for life – to entertain the man who sponsors me, and anyone he sees fit until I am of old age, no longer of any use to anyone…"

"But that isn't what you want."

Zelda shrugged mildly, not looking at Link. "It doesn't really matter if it's what I want. It's simply the way things are."

Link's eyes never left Zelda. "The Gerudo purchase geisha too, you know."

Zelda looked over at her in disbelief. "Just what are you implying?"

Link shrugged lightly. "Nothing, I was just wondering if you would be happier in a different situation."

Unable to process the bluntness of the statement, Zelda puffed, "Well, I'm not Gerudo, so… it's out of the question!" She stuck her nose in the air. Link chuckled at her childishness. Zelda noticed something then – a hardening of the brow, jaggedness of the shoulders that she hadn't noticed before.

"Say, Link… are you…?"

The other looked at her, head cocked slightly. Without thinking, Zelda reached out, taking Link's hand in her own. With the other hand, she touched Link's face, getting chalky makeup on her fingers as Urbosa had. The skin underneath was smooth, and the fingers between hers were slender. It must have just been her imagination.

Link watched her intently, a question on their face.

Realizing her actions, Zelda removed her fingers at once, swiftly dropping Link's hand. "It's nothing." _I must be wrong._ All that really mattered was the flowery warmth that had ignited inside her from the laugh she produced from Link. It was something she had seldom done for anyone unless for her job as a prized geisha called for it.

Link stepped away, and again Zelda felt a sense that she was sharper, bolder than before – but not by much. "I have to go."

This arrested Zelda's breathing. "Oh…?" _Please don't go…_ Whatever it was she was feeling, it was as though Link was her connection to the life she could have – should have – had. Link took Zelda's hands in her own, bringing them close to her chest – close enough for Zelda to feel her roundness and stuttering pulse. Hers was much the same. "I'm sure you'll find your way, Zelda. Whichever path that may be."

Subdued, she nodded. "Yes…"

Then Link brought Zelda's fingers to her lips, pressing against the tips so softly that it left Zelda breathless, and only once Link had slipped away, whispering, " _We'll meet again_ ," she was left, wondering if it had all been a dream.

Link gone, Zelda couldn't shake the feeling that something had been off about her. _But that wasn't it._ She took her head in her hands, trying to slap herself out of it. What Link had said was true…

Trudging forward, she descended the stairs to the gardens below. Kicking off her delicate wooden shoes, she slowly pulled the knot from her hair. Golden locks cascaded over her shoulders, and she fell to her knees on the rocks by the stream. Seeing her reflection with the dancing koi, the white and golden fishes swished just out of her reach. She leaned forward, submerging her face in the water.

Gasping as she came up, Zelda scrubbed her face with both hands. If someone found her like this, she would be shamed. At the moment, she couldn't have cared less. Her scalp ached from her hair being tied back so tightly and, slouching forward, she loosened the sash around her waist with wet and dirty hands, allowing herself to breathe. She threw it aside, onto the grass.

Soaking up the moonlight, her sleeves dragged on the ground as she spread her arms, slinking out of her kimono, down to the frilly and thin white gown underneath. Feeling lighter than she had in years, Zelda dashed through the river as she made her way through the gardens, giggling like a little girl again.

Zelda didn't remember her parents, but she remembered what it felt like to be near them. Her memories of Lady Urbosa were sturdier, more concrete – but she couldn't forget the warmth of her home, of the place she came from…

Face, hair, and clothes sopping wet, Zelda sauntered through the gardens, bare feet arching to the cool stone path and damp dirt. The pale pink cherry trees hung over her dance, blocking out the light of the moon in a pattern of petals as she brushed chalk-stained fingers against bushes and flowers as she passed –

Until she came to the edge where the gardens ended and the forest began.

Zelda looked back at the party, still booming with laughter, and wondered, for just a moment, whether it was worth it.

Ready to turn back to the forest and make her great escape, that's when she saw the dark figure crouched low against the top of the teahouse, blocking out the stars. She squinted at first, wondering who it could possibly be, and gasped in surprise when she saw the dagger poised at Link's side, glimmering in the moonlight.

Her wonder vanished at the blue, hawklike eyes that surveyed those in the party down below.

* * *

 **OKAY, wow. So… I've had this fic planned for so long that I wondered if I'd ever actually get around to writing it. Here it is! Every time I've tried to write something for a video game in the past (especially** _ **The Legend of Zelda**_ **), it hasn't turned out, so… I'm hoping to break that cycle once and for all.** **Initially this fanfic wasn't even planned to be in the Zelda universe – since I first conceived it years ago, I decided it would be better to mold it to a *coughs* better different fandom. And of course,** _ **Breath of the Wild**_ **was just such a beautiful game, nhg. (No, I haven't gotten Champions' Ballad yet… but I'm hoping to!)**

 **Please leave your thoughts below!**


	2. Freedom

**. ~ Freedom. ~ .**

* * *

Wet with river water and stripped to only her nightgown, Zelda rushed back toward the light of the party. Bare soles tore dirt and grass from the ground, her vision swirling before her, eyes fixed upon the figure of a geisha on the roof holding a dagger in hand.

Thoughts of escape vanished from her mind, concerned with the safety of those back at the teahouse, her mother and sisters, friends and acquaintances. Link swooped down into the party, boots pattering against the tiled rooftop before Zelda could climb the stairs. Gasps rang out around the factions of Hyruleans inside, increasing her panic, and when Zelda finally burst through the door, all she could see was Link in the center of it all, crouched low, dagger in hand poised for a backslash, kimono torn at the knee. Upon closer look, she realized the dagger had already succeeded in making its first mark: blood dripped from it and onto the beige tatami mats on the floor, oozing between the wooden reeds. Terrified geisha, men, and royals alike steered clear of Link's path, forming a semicircle around her. Where it ended was where Zelda stood.

Zelda felt her throat flex to choke out the name suddenly on her chapped lips, and Link turned. In her current state, without face paint, kimono, nor the composed nature of a geisha, Zelda was just another dingy common-girl, calling out to a terrorist.

Golden hair messy and soaked, white nightgown scant and dirty, Zelda was nobody.

With Link distracted, Urbosa took that as an opening. She rushed forward, brandishing the golden-handled scimitar fit for a queen. Link's dagger was fast enough to cross its path – though Urbosa's superior strength sent Link careening into the wall. Wood splintered around her. Bystanders scrambled out of the way, geisha and officials emptying out of the teahouse in a frantic wave on either side of Zelda, who was still frozen in the doorway. Link coughed harshly from the impact, using her dagger to try to prop herself up.

Disoriented, Zelda stepped forward, calling out again, this time haltingly, to her mother, seeing Urbosa move toward the debilitated Link. Surprised, Urbosa turned back to look at her.

Link used the opportunity to search among the sea of hurrying bodies in desperate attempt to locate the one she had been commissioned to take out. Instead, Link made eye-contact with Prince Sidon, who nodded subtly. Link understood the sign. It made her gut twist in remorse.

Urbosa declared, pointing one of her long fingernails at Link, still half in the wall, "This troublemaker already stabbed one of our customers! What reason could you have to defend her from me?!"

Zelda lurched forward through the rush of kimono- and yukata-donning partygoers escaping out the door, moving to stand between Urbosa and Link. Zelda spread her arms in front of Link, who froze. "Mother, please! There has to be a good explanation for this!"

"Zelda, I trust your judgement," Urbosa said calmly, "but this is not something you should meddle yourself in. We can't excuse an attack like this, no matter one's background – and just what in Hylia's name are you doing bursting in in this disheveled state?!" Her bright green eyes flickered to the battered face of the warrior behind Zelda in accusatory fury.

"Link didn't do anything!" Zelda cried. "I decided this of my own accord! How can you say one's background doesn't matter when dealing with strangers when that's exactly why you accepted me when no one else would?"

Shocked, Urbosa went silent, Zelda's scream echoing in her mind. The tears in Zelda's eyes reminded her of the broken child she'd found by the river, ten years ago…

It was then Link made her move. Darting in front of Zelda, she stopped the arrow that came at them. Rito champion, Revali, had flown up from behind Urbosa with his steady aim.

"Stop!" Urbosa called at once, turning with scimitar raised. "You could have hit Zelda!"

"Daughter or not," yelled Revali pompously, setting another arrow on the nock, "we can't have a traitor escaping from Kakariko during our one night of universal diplomacy."

"I said – STOP!" Urbosa cried, fully shielding Zelda and Link with her large body.

Revali grunted in disgust but lowered his weapon, as well as his body. "Can't you see they're in cahoots together?!" he crowed, flapping a wing to the side. "As you so generously stated, traitors must be dealt with. No matter where they come from."

"Zelda's just a child," Urbosa argued, "she has nothing to do with this –"

A giant, stony hand grabbed Zelda around the waist from behind and yanked her back. At her surprised yelp, Urbosa, Link, and Revali looked to see Daruk had snatched Zelda into his protective sphere.

In the champions' moment of hesitation, Link rushed from behind Urbosa to strike down the Rito champion, but the bird was faster, and sent Link flying into the jagged outer shell of Daruk's Protection. She cried out in pain as she writhed on the floor in front of Zelda.

"No! Let me out!" Zelda yelled, pounding her fists on the glassy outer layer of the sphere. "I have to do something!"

"I'm sorry, little one," Daruk said sympathetically. "This is something that must be done. You almost didn't escape Revali's wrath."

Zelda glared back at him without restraint, making Daruk gulped from the rage and betrayal in her eyes. But there was something more in the stare than the betrayed innocence of a child: an ancient power, untamed and alive, emanating from within. "Would you have said the same about me if hadn't been Urbosa who raised me?"

Daruk said nothing. He was too startled by what he'd sensed from Zelda to respond, but quickly he regained his senses as Revali was shot toward them. Daruk jumped free with Zelda just in time, bow and arrow hitting the opposite wall before Revali did. "Outta the way!"

Link was on her feet again. Everyone except Link, Zelda, and the Hylian Champions had fled from the teahouse by now – though Prince Sidon lingered in the gardens not too far off, awaiting Link's report.

One last time, with trembling dagger in hand and everyone immobilized, Link rushed forward, her aim true.

Having fallen with all her weight against Daruk's Protection, Zelda looked up just in time to see Urbosa over Link, Link's dagger embedded in her side.

Blue eyes widened.

"MOTHER!" Zelda shrieked.

At the cry, Revali took up his bow and arrow once more, shooting at Link's neck, whose back was facing them. Either by complete fluke or great intuition, Link dropped to the ground, ripping the dagger from Urbosa's side as she did. Both of them fell, and the arrow missed.

It was Daruk who let Zelda go running to her mother, collapsing on her knees. Dark blood stained her fingers as she found the wound, and Urbosa, having already been holding her side, brushed what had been chalk against Zelda's cheek not an hour before.

"Do you want to be free?" Urbosa whispered. "Now's your chance. No one will pursue you."

Zelda grasped Urbosa's hand on her cheek, tears streaming down her flushed face. "No, Mother! I can't leave you! Not now…!"

Daruk and Revali advanced on Link in blind rage. Holding her ribcage, she hardly succeeded in parrying their attacks before yelling to Zelda over her shoulder. "If we're going, it has to be now!"

"Go," said Urbosa. "I'll be fine. You think I haven't survived wounds worse than this?" She smiled weakly, her eyes lidded. When the lines on her face deepened at the bolt of pain that shot through her body, Urbosa's hand left Zelda's cheek.

"No! No, Mother, no! Let go of me!" Link had her arm around her waist.

"No one will let you live in Kakariko after a crime like this –" Revali trilled after them, "you'll be imprisoned, tortured, and killed for having been affiliated with that Hylian scum!"

Daruk fell to his knees in front of Urbosa, who was bleeding all over the floor. "Where's Mipha when we need her…?!"

Zelda didn't realize she was gazing back at the teahouse until its light was framed by the trees, and she felt Link dragging her forward by one hand.

By the time they found Link's horse somewhere in the trees, Zelda uttered in a trance, "I didn't even get to say goodbye."

At a loss for what to say, Link climbed on and hoisted Zelda on behind her, kicking the steed forward into the night. A sudden heat flared up behind them, and they both looked back at the teahouse that was now ablaze. Zelda gasped, her horror anew, but Link urged her horse on through the night.

Aware of the eyes watching them, especially those of a certain Zora prince, arrows rained down on them from above when they neared the city walls, all in Kakariko privy to what had taken place at Hyrule's annual geisha party, which was meant to increase commerce and strengthen foreign relations. The teahouse in flames was symbolic enough of that.

The forest whipped by Zelda in a daze, who shivered with excitement and fear.

Her life was gone. In the angry mob behind that had banished them, and her mother lying on her side, bleeding on the floor.

Now she was to be reborn.

Or was she dead in a sense?

Too deep in shock to resist Link or process what happened, the horse carried her farther and farther into the countryside. It was past midnight by the time she came back to her senses. Zelda squirmed behind Link on the saddle. "You –! You…!"

Link recoiled forward as Zelda bashed her fists against her back. "Ah, stop! You're going to make us fall –!"

"You stabbed my mother!" Zelda shouted. "I thought you were –! I thought –!"

She kept hitting Link until she started crying and didn't stop. Eventually Link slowed down to look back at her. Once at walking speed, Zelda hopped off at once, stumbling on the wet ground and rubbing her eyes as she ran into the woods away from Link. Sighing indolently, Link stopped her horse to chase after her.

Only a little ways off from where they'd stopped, Zelda tripped and fell onto her hands and knees, further dirtying her white nightgown and scraping her knees. She was too exhausted from crying too fiercely to get up.

Slowly, Link walked up behind her, and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I trusted you!" Zelda shrieked, voice hoarse. "I thought you were trying to help me, not tear everything apart!"

"I am sorry. I never intended things to turn out the way they did… but I know an apology won't fix what I did."

With tear-filled eyes, Zelda looked up at Link, and saw the remorse in the other Hylian's face. Confused about everything all at once, she flung herself forward into Link's arms, sobbing uncontrollably. Link massaged her back tenderly, filled with even more regret, panging loudly in her chest.

She knew she'd made sure the wound left on Urbosa had been deep… it would take a miracle to survive it.

The sound of wind sifting through the branches as they continued on failed to distract either of them from the pain they had left in Kakariko.

* * *

 **~ Two weeks later ~**

* * *

Hylians remained uninvited to the annual geisha party in Kakariko due to their involvement in the calamity that had taken place one-hundred years ago and nearly wiped out all of Hyrule and the entire Hylian race. Hylians were hardly known in these parts of the world other than Zelda, and seemed to have disappeared altogether. That was why Zelda had been so alarmed to find that wasn't the case, but perhaps that was why she'd been so easily fooled.

Zelda washed her clothes down by the stream. Hills and grasslands surrounded her, stretching in distances farther than she had ever seen. Droplets of water rolled down her face in the chilly morning breeze when she stood, a hand blocking out the sun. She turned to see Link approaching from the slope behind her, a large speckled egg in each hand. Zelda breathed out heavily through her nose.

In the past few weeks, the innocent wonder that had charmed Urbosa on the Kakariko riverside ten years ago had crept back into those celadon eyes – but only in moments at a time. Link saw how those eyes shifted down when she recalled the teahouse. Sadness and regret still followed wherever she went, despite now being free.

It had only been two weeks since she'd seen the city and its ancient, rustically-colored splendor. Now they could both live their lives the way they wanted. They'd have to avoid society because of what happened, but already, being Hylians, they had to hide their true identities unless they wanted to be gawked at, treated with inferiority and fear. Though she likely would have been the trophy of a rich man, Urbosa had given Zelda the best life she could hope for. Zelda and Link covered their elven ears from passersby, playing on their uncanny resemblance to humans to get them by, and avoided large cities. Maybe somewhere, their people still flourished on…

Zelda watched as Link turned their scrambling eggs over with a tree branch, the pan sizzling from the crackling fire underneath. When Link's eyes flickered at her in inquiry, Zelda didn't return her gaze.

There were no apologies to be made. They'd already had enough of that. She felt she didn't deserve it, but Link was gentle and kind with her. Not sure what to make of all that happened, all she knew was she had never met someone so strikingly similar, and yet so different. A part of her felt she had wished this upon Kakariko and her maiko and geisha sisters, upon her mother Urbosa…

Wishing for a life of adventure when everything had been peaceful and perfect was something she should have never even crossed her mind.

And now she had to live with what she'd done.

"We're headed somewhere I think you'll really like," Link muttered, focused again on their breakfast.

Zelda only nodded.

By the time Link fed her horse and saddled up, Zelda was sick of the countryside – how quiet it was aside from the sound of the tall, swaying grass.

They rode higher, mountains springing up around them with grassy sides. The clip-clopping of hoof upon rock and muffled hoof upon moss interchanging. As always, Link's gaze was forward. Any time Zelda leaned forward to see her face, try and understand what she could be thinking, the other never revealed anything. Not in her expression. Not unless she wanted to.

There was something about Link that set her apart from others. Not just the fact she was the only Hylian Zelda had ever seen aside from herself, nor the fact that she knew next to nothing about Link's origins or what exactly her mission in Kakariko entailed. There was something… something in the way she moved, even now, just riding behind her, that was… suspicious. Not suspicious in the way that makes you distrust someone, in spite of all that had already occurred between them – no, Link and Zelda were far past that, abiding strictly to the unspoken code of "don't ask, don't tell." They were all each other had. It was something that made Zelda wonder about her upbringing… just who had taught her to hold herself in such a way? It seemed very, well… masculine.

 _That's silly,_ she thought. While dressing and undressing in the mornings and at night, she'd already caught glimpses of curved hips and silky skin – if, however, less accentuated than her own – her round chest. Zelda never stared for long. It was too embarrassing, not to mention an invasion of privacy. She didn't want to be caught, and assumed it was just her who was curious, but… she found herself still wondering.

 _I'm probably just confused._ She shook her head, leaning it against Link's shoulder at the gaiting motion of the horse. Although broader that what she was used to, Link's shoulder was no more or less soft – or muscular – than the rest of her. _It would make sense that I don't know how Hylian men would act, since there are no other Hylians. It shouldn't be any of my concern…_

The higher up they got, the steamier the air became, contrary to Zelda's intuition. Thick pine-needled trees and other big-leafed shrubbery cropped up around them. Interest piqued, Zelda was going to ask where they were headed, when moisture covered the hair in his nose, flaring her nostrils.

Ahead lay a hot spring, wafting steam into the fresh mountain air. It had clearly been visited by Hyruleans before, with steps leading up to it, and large basins full of colder water at one side. Link jumped off of the horse first and then helped Zelda down, as per usual. "I came across this place once before," Link said. "At first I thought it was someone's home, but the cabin is burned down over there. Look." She pointed somewhere behind her horse, and Zelda saw the charred remains, hardly visible beneath the shadows of the trees. "I thought it might be nice to wash ourselves off here, since we were heading in the same direction."

Zelda had to admit, she was eager to take a hot bath again. None of the hotels or inns they had visited the past weeks provided hot baths without an extra charge, money which neither Link nor Zelda possessed. Being pampered as a to-be-geisha at Vah Naboris really had made her spoiled.

Stepping onto damp rocks, Zelda slipped off the robe and under-jacket equipped with a holster that Link had purchased for her the day after their flight from Kakariko. Zelda did away with her pants and underwear and slipped into the water as Link undressed herself. Immediately, Zelda shuddered from the wave of euphoria that went down her spine and dipped her head under. Sputtering as she came up, she gasped for air and wiped out her eyes, noticing the hollowed bamboo spouting water at them from above. Behind her, Link stepped in, and she had to quickly avert her face, having been curious enough to glance at her from the front. Unbelievably, her face became rather heated. _It's the water that's making me lightheaded,_ she assumed.

Link bent forward, slightly over Zelda, as she shuddered in pain. Zelda looked up to find her holding her stomach.

When she'd been crying into Link's arms for a time in the misty forest after their flight from Kakariko, Link had recoiled back, clutching her ribcage. Tears stained Zelda's cheeks when she saw the black spot on Link's torn kimono. Blood poured profusely. Panicked, she had laid Link, groaning, on the ground, and rushed back to her horse's saddle to search for some kind of tunicate. The thought of being left alone in the wilderness had been enough to scare her senseless, and there was a part of her that still cared enough about this other Hylian to know her true self, and why she had done all the things she had, why she carried herself the way she did…

Link made happy chirping noises as she settled in the water next to Zelda, up to her neck. The pain seemed to have abated, and Link hadn't noticed Zelda's stare at all. Zelda aptly kept her back to her, pretending to be focused on the rocky wall and the bamboo reeds sticking out of it, trickling water in front of her.

"What is it?" Link asked, cluelessly.

Zelda realized she was being ridiculous and spun around, seeing how nonplussed Link was. "I-I'm not used to bathing with someone else, you know."

Again, Link gave her that imperceptible stare, and said nothing. Zelda wanted to ask. She wanted to know why she got this strange sense from Link, similar to a man at times, and other times not…

"I grew up in a place like this," Link said unexpectedly. Zelda blinked, almost not sure whether she should pursue the matter further.

"Really?"

"It was a small town," said Link, fingers gingerly poking her side, where Urbosa's scimitar slashed open her skin. "My parents were simple farmers. We never expected our life to change… Certainly not I."

"You mean there were more of you? More Hylians, I mean?"

Link thought about it before she answered, glancing into Zelda's curious celadon eyes. "I think so. Maybe. I was too young to remember."

Her voice was but a whisper. "What happened there?" Zelda had heard vague mentions of the calamity from Urbosa and customers, but the reason for what happened, what her Hylian ancestors had done… she couldn't say.

Link hesitated again, but this time it was from conflict in varied memories, trying to differentiate what was real and what was just her imagination. "Everything was on fire," she said, her lips quivering, mind stuck in the fragmented memory. "I can't remember why. Or who did it. Everyone was chased out of their homes, many killed… I was separated from my parents, and never saw them again." She looked down, studying her hand, which floated atop the water for a moment. Then said, "I wandered until I stumbled into the Realm of the Zoras, and lived with them for a time, undiscovered. But word reached across Hyrule what had come to pass."

Zelda waited in case there was anything else Link wanted to add, but she was silent. "I don't remember any more. I'm sorry."

Zelda lifted her chin. "My mother found me by the riverside in Kakariko one rainy evening," she told Link, regaining the other's intrigue. "She took me to her home, the teahouse, despite the fate the goddesses ordained for all Hylians long ago. Urbosa searched everywhere for my parents, far and wide, and never found any trace of them, nor what could have been their home… Perhaps my village was near yours." Her voice trailed off.

When they stepped out of the water, Link wrapped a blanket around Zelda to dry her off. She wasn't embarrassed anymore. If anything, she had been subdued by their conversation, by the steam of the bath, by this connection they had, whether it be pain and suffering or light in the darkness. She couldn't be sure. Wrapped in the blanket, inches away from Link's bare body, Zelda lifted her chin, looking into those blue eyes. Birds trilled their sweet love songs deep in the trees of the mountain-forest mist.

Watching Zelda's face, Link leaned forward, and closed the distance that separated them.

And two became one.

* * *

 **~ Six hours later ~**

* * *

Link led her shining black horse through the muddy roads in the next village. It was raining, and Zelda held over them a finely-woven blanket that served as a tarp. Both had redressed in clean robes: matching navy-blue. Standing close, they came to a stop under the awning of a ramen shop.

"Two spicy ramen, please," said Link, holding her horse's reins and holding up two fingers to indicate the number of bowls. When the hand dropped back to her side, Zelda's fingertips slid between hers. Tenuously, she grasped back.

They sat down, and the reins of Link's horse were tied to a pole beneath the awning so she'd be out of the rain. Zelda turned to smile at her. In normal clothing, Link looked perfectly man-ish to the untrained eye.

After that afternoon, she had revealed her secret.

While getting dressed, Zelda saw Link reuptake in her hands the cloth she used to tie tightly around her chest. "What's that for?" she'd asked, still laying half on the wood and half in the hot springs, grinning, her supple body aglow as she twirled her golden hair with one hand.

"Oh, I wear this sometimes," Link answered. "Like this." She wrapped the cloth around her chest, pulling it to demonstrate how flat she became.

Zelda's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you do that for? Shouldn't you be more concerned about your ears showing?" she said sarcastically, stepping out of the hot spring to stand close to Link, laying a hand on her shoulder, stroking her arm slowly.

"I wear it so I won't get into any trouble," Link said. "People are less likely to bother you if they think you're someone else."

Zelda's brow tightened, her gaze having fallen to the scar left by the fight in Kakariko, a jagged gash on the side of Link's stomach. This was only the worst out of a number of smaller hurts all over her body. Gradually, Zelda's hand fell and she ran her fingers over the mark. "I'll make sure no one bothers you."

"I'm not worried about that anymore," said Link, putting her hands on Zelda's shoulders as she hugged her close. "I'm worried about someone targeting _us_. Both of us."

From the way she emphasized the last word, Zelda understood what Link meant: she didn't mean just as Hylians, or as fugitives. She returned Link's embrace as she said, "I'm sure most people wouldn't even think twice about whether you and I are…"

Link's countenance was steady as she squeezed her close. "I don't want to take chances."

"I still don't think it's necessary…" she murmured, looking up at Link's face as best as she could while in their current position.

Zelda didn't know why she said this. She should have been happy Link was taking extra precautions to make sure they wouldn't get caught. She guessed, after that afternoon, in which they'd become closer than she had with anyone… she no longer wanted to hide her true identity, and she didn't want Link to feel she had to either.

Link ended up binding her chest anyway, though.

All throughout her recollections, the twanging sound of a shamisen's strings resonated from a maiko sitting beside them at the base of the ramen shop's window. With Link's fingers between her own, she hadn't thought twice about it. Not one bit of the fear or regret that had plagued her that morning, and every morning since that fateful night, touched her.

Abruptly, the sound of the shamisen ceased. "Hey! It's the Hylian geisha girl! The one who escaped from Kakariko!"

The ramen shop manager stopped cooking. Eyes turned toward them. The maiko with the shamisen had stood, having caught a glimpse of Zelda's face. She was now pointing at both of them. In a human town, they weren't strikingly different from the rest, who were also refugees from the calamity, but news of Kakariko's annual geisha party teahouse burning must have reached even these far corners of the kingdom.

Horrified, Zelda's celadon eyes fixed upon the child, who shivered in fear at the energy behind her accusations and Zelda's stare. It was Link, again, bringing her back to her senses, nudging Zelda quietly onto the back of the horse. Zelda was about to comply when a voice rang out over the chattering others.

"Lady Zelda! Your mother Urbosa is dead because of you!" An old man stepped forward, his greyed beard and bushy eyebrows nearly disguising the true heartache at what he had said. His haggard appearance did not dampen the sincerity in his pained words. "Will you not go to her grave in Kakariko to pay your respects?"

His honesty convinced Zelda that what he spoke this was the truth. He made no move to obstruct them in their path for escape. What reason would a wandering refugee such as themselves have to lie to her of her mother's death? What reason would he to guilt her to return other than because he felt pity for the only Gerudo, the only Hyrulean, who had taken Zelda in as her own? The other species of Hyrule looked down on humans as they did Hylians, as it was said that they assisted in bringing about the calamity of times before.

The empty shock in those celadon eyes solidified into sorrow, which transformed into rage as they turned upon Link.

"You… killed… my mother…?"

* * *

 **Wow… I apologize for taking so long to write this chapter. That's actually never happened in my life on this website, but I have finally edited it to my liking, and the last chapter WILL come a lot sooner~**

 **I'm trying a different writing style with this story to contrast it with my other current long-time fanfic for another fandom, so I would really appreciate it if you left your thoughts below! Thanks so much, and Happy All Hallows Day!**


	3. Forgiveness

**. ~ Forgiveness. ~ .**

* * *

Link trembled at the presence before her, anticipating the divine providence to strike her down.

The energy she had felt from Zelda since that night in Kakariko, Link felt it ten times as strongly now. More intensely than during all her years of training in the Zora's Domain. She feared the power within those eyes, within the body that had endured one-hundred years of isolation, culminating to this very moment.

The young girl's chest heaved, her golden hair blustering in the rainy wind around them. "You killed my mother…! Get out of here…!" She took a step forward and Link took a step back. "Get out –!" She screamed again, picking up a chair to hurl it at Link. It sped past her and smashed to pieces on a nearby wall. The villagers, including the shamisen-playing maiko and elderly human man, looked on with aghast. "BEFORE I KILL YOU!"

"Zelda, please listen to me, I –!"

She outstretched one hand, directing it at Link. The rain around them halted middair. Not a sound to be heard for miles. There was no quelling the goddess' fury; the same innocence that had enraptured Link that night in the teahouse was naught but anger in Zelda's overwhelming aura. Terrified, Link ran.

At the pitter-patter of Link's boots on mud, raindrops began to fall again, and Zelda collapsed onto her hands and knees on the edge of the village between the road and the forest and cried. The villagers did nothing, not daring to leave the scene to call the guards, having witnessed the immense divine energy here, and fearful of incurring Zelda's wrath. They had all been foretold of the intensity of a goddess' emotion, but never had they suspected to bear firsthand what such feeling meant.

After a time, lost and alone in the rain, Zelda looked down at her salty tear-stained hands, presumably indistinguishable from the water falling from the sky. But to her the difference was clear. The pure memories she once held of Urbosa were now fading, falling deep into the mud… her childhood, her upbringing, even the kind memories with her real parents felt distant and cold, lost the night they had disappeared from her sight as she clutched Link around the torso – her blue, white, and gold kimono ripped and red with blood, the sound of hooves falling hard on the cobblestone road, the stench of smoke and the heat of fire pursuing them…

The one person she hoped would understand her, the person she had been forced to trust in hopes of returning to Kakariko… _Has Link been my enemy all along?_ Or was it her fault for being so easily fooled and letting Link into her heart?

In the past two weeks they'd shared closeness she'd never felt with another… She felt appreciated and protected, even if there were things left unsaid between them, things they would rather avoid and forget. The topic of the calamity hadn't been brought up explicitly, but ever-present in the back of their minds, and after that afternoon in the hot springs… they'd consummated what she believed to be love. _Is it not so?_ she asked. _How could I ever love someone who killed…_

She couldn't finish the thought, strangely distant from her memories.

Around her, the villagers had begun to move again. Thoughts of selling Zelda to the authorities began to form in their minds. She could sense it in their whispers as they doubted her diminished power, not believing their own own senses that she was of divine blood. _Power…_

Urbosa had seen it too, as had Link. Neither had known how to describe it at the time they first met, but it captivated them from the start. Even Zelda's patrons in Vah Naboris must have felt some fixation to her abilities as a geisha due to this emanating power. There was no other way a Hylian could get so far in the world of entertainment without being disrespected… right? Or perhaps it was their unrealistic, fetishized ideation of her as a Hylian that kept them intrigued… Yes, it had always been there, others' sick fascination with her, but never in a way to understand.

Until now.

"There she is! There's the traitor! A Hylian!"

Caught in realization, Zelda hardly cast the soldiers and their screaming guide a glance. _How is it that Link came across my path…?_ _Where is my place here in this world?_

When a pair of soldiers took her by the shoulders, the divine glow of her eyes and golden hair swooped on them. A great wind swept them out of the way, pelting them with rain. Knocked out cold on the ground, she trudged around their bodies and after Link, into the forest.

 _There must have been a reason I was ever found by that river ten years ago._

* * *

 **~ Ten years prior ~**

* * *

It was the sound of water that awoke Link as small, scaly red hands dragged her lifeless body from the river. Voices in another language babbled over what to do, when finally a consensus was made. Link was set on a raft, her limp body tugged through the river that snaked its way through Zora's Domain. Eventually, the sound of water disappeared somewhere along the way, and when Link finally came to, she was lying before the Zora king. Two young red Zoras stood before her, pleading with him.

Link sat up, still disoriented from winding up in a place she had never seen before except in old legends. Her parents had told her stories of the mysterious realm of the water people, but never had she anticipated seeing it in real life. The Zora king spoke harshly for a while longer, Link laying prone, defenseless as he looked upon her with cold seaweed-colored eyes. Link was starting to think she wasn't welcome, when she was flooded by hugs and handshakes from the two red Zoras.

"Congratulations!" spoke the older one in her best accent: the Princess Mipha.

"You're one of us now!" said the smaller one as he bounced around, about Link's age.

They cared for her until she was strong again. They provided all the necessities she needed to live, taught her their traditions and way of life – how to swim, how to fight, and even gave her special armor so she could breathe underwater – but none of this was completely free, out of the goodness of their hearts.

Link was trained as a warrior. King Dorephan knew her small stature and likeness to humans would allow her to sneak into places the Zoras could not. Once matured enough, Link was forced to serve as a royal assassin.

With time on her travels, memories of life before the calamity slowly returned. She would ride through the countryside when it reappeared, a glimmer of her past, which would send her mind back to the terror and screaming.

In spite of King Dorephan's natural dislike of the Hylian, Princess Mipha and Prince Sidon remained by her side. They had been the ones who saved her from a cold fate in the river, and rued the position the king had put her in. They grew a close bond with time through their misadventures in childhood, and collaboration on missions in their teenage years…

Shuddering from the terror of the Guardians that had ravaged her home, Link sat up in her bed in the Zora's Domain. All was tranquil and perfect here as it always was, down to the guards patrolling the lower levels of the palace. But in her dreams, all was alight with fire, death and fear of her people amok…

Link's surrogate brother Sidon listened to Link's tale of the calamitous past that night as he had many times, becoming more and more incited to equalize the relationship of humans still suffering from the prejudices carried out by the other less Hylian-like races. Without some kind of catastrophe to upend the hierarchy of Gerudo, Zoras, Rito, and Gorons, there would never be change. Pacing back and forth by the river that moonlit night, he proposed, "We have to make a statement if any of this is to ever change. We could burn down the Kakariko teahouse at the annual geisha party this year, our symbol of peace, to show all is not as well as they think."

Appalled and astounded, Link looked at Sidon from her position on a boulder farther from the water and up the slope, knees propped against it. "What…?"

"First," said Sidon, "we would have to take out Urbosa, mother of the Vah Naboris teahouse. She's the biggest concern among the champions, with that mysterious Hylian geisha at her side. She could serve as an ally to the races against humans in convincing us there is no inequality. Link, don't you see? With your help, we could stop the injustices spreading to the largest population across Hyrule."

Link shook her head. "That would be starting a war between the geisha houses, with your sister Mipha being the mother of Vah Ruta. This is fool's play, Sidon. So many could get hurt. And what will they think once they find out it was you, the Zora Prince, who instigated such a thing? Something like that can't remain hidden in such a fragile situation."

"I'm fully aware of what my involvement would be and the consequences that go along with it. But if you do this… you could slip in there pretending to be a geisha under Vah Ruta, and it would be so easy. With the other Hylian geisha under Vah Naboris already there and the calamity so far in the past, no one would even question it!"

Link's back straightened, years of battle-torn shoulders broadening beneath threadbare clothes. Standing from her seat on the bankside, where they had often talked the past ten years, she turned away from him. "You're asking me to carry out the job I hate most. I didn't tell you I'd remembered my past to incite more violence, Sidon." A pause, and she began to walk back up the slope. "I'll have no part of this."

"Link, I'm not asking you to do this for me," said Sidon exasperatedly, "but for the good of humanity, for Hyrule to finally live in peace. For real this time, after all the bigotry and turmoil of the past centuries with nothing being solved and everything going from bad to worse."

Link looked back at him, perplexity in her expression. "Sidon, we're playing too dangerous of a game here. I'd prefer not to kill anyone… You know that." Looking down, she clenched her fists. "I've already told you… I want to be free from life as King Dorephan's dog as soon as I find a place he can't find me… I've already seen too much of this world."

Sidon approached her, coming to eye-level due to the slope leading down to the rushing water behind him. Hesitating to reach out, he placed his hands on Link's shoulders, face hidden in shadow. "I know, I understand… It's pained me to see you suffer all this time. If Mipha and I had known what our father would do to you, we…" He bit his lip. Looking up again, his eyes shined with tears. "I want to help you escape from here. We can stage this mission as the one you die on."

"But…" Link's lips trembled, and she sucked in a breath of air to steady herself. "If I do that, I'll never be able to see you or Mipha again."

Subtly, Sidon nodded. "Yes. But… this is what you want, isn't it? I promise, no matter what happens, I'll ensure your safety away from Zora's Domain until Father is dead. I won't fail you, Link. Just this last mission to make it happen, for the good of all people…"

"What about Mipha…?" Link asked after a moment.

Sidon lowered his gaze. "We can't tell her."

Stiffly, Link nodded. "Yeah. You're right." Listening to the running water a moment longer, she takes a deep breath of the night air.

"Well, what will I need?"

* * *

 **~ In the forest ~**

* * *

Something happened on her mission that Link never expected. She met the Hylian geisha, Zelda, and saw something in her eyes that was quite unlike any other, and in so short a time, felt so at home and at peace…

Link stood in a clearing in the forest, a little ways from the village. The rain slicked down her temples and spine, soaking her to the bone. Her breath felt constricted by the wrappings squeezing her chest, and from her charged confrontation with Zelda. It was all so fucked up, everything that had occurred since that night… Why did she ever agree to something like what Sidon proposed, when there were so many variables and so much was at stake? Was it because she was desperate to taste the freedom before her…?

Footsteps crunched quietly on the wet grass.

"Link."

And she'd used Zelda's goodwill to get her out of the way rather than warning her of what was to come, suggesting she flee the party before carrying out her mission…

"What happened one-hundred years ago?"

Gradually, rainwater dripping down her face and neck, Link looked over at her, emptiness in her eyes.

"Link…?"

Falling to her knees, she broke out into tears, wailing loudly with a hand over her face. It was a mournful tone Zelda had never heard Link use, normally so poised and quiet, not even enough room for happy emotions, normally. Crouching to her level, Zelda rubbed her back and sides, attempting to assuage the pain she'd been carrying alone for so long.

"It's okay, I'm here…" she cooed. "No matter what, we'll get through this together, you and me. I'm glad you found me at the teahouse, Link." Her sobs quiet now, she hugged Link close to her chest, who hurriedly took hold of her body, shaking with panic and from the cold.

They didn't say it, but the feeling of warmth they shared in the pouring rain, absconded from humanity, was understood.

 _Finally, I'm not alone in the world._

* * *

 **~ Kakariko ~**

* * *

 _How could something like this happen?_

The Zora Champion bowed her head in honor of the fallen Gerudo, her silver headdress clinking in the silence. The overcast sky had drenched the gray ground in dew drops, the cylindrical gravestone in front of her wet.

"Sister Mipha." Out of breath, Sidon came running up to her from behind.

She pivoted on one heel, expression inlaid with remorse.

"There hasn't been any word of Zelda and Link. Not since…" Sidon trailed off.

Mipha nodded, her eyes drifting back to the name on the gravestone. _Champion Urbosa of the Gerudo – Fighter and mother to all who crossed into her loving arms._ "I just wish I could have known what Link was thinking… before it all happened…"

Sidon remained still as he took in a breath. Then he averted his eyes.

Mipha cast him a glance. "What is it, brother?"

"Ah, we shouldn't give up hope just yet," he floundered, his tongue feeling heavy in his mouth. "Link and that other Hylian are alive somewhere. We'll find them again." _Link, don't ever come back. Only death awaits you here._

Past him in her line of vision, Mipha saw two figures on the edge of the graveyard mist. Trident in hand, she moved in that direction.

"As soon as we find those traitors, I'll make them pay for what they've done," alleged Revali, slapping one fist into one winged hand. "Family or not, Link and Zelda will pay for what they've done to Lady Urbosa. I won't make the mistake of letting them escape again."

"It's terrible, what happened," Daruk agreed. "But I don't suspect the Gorons will uphold the one-hundred year peace treaty now that Urbosa is gone…"

"They've been in there for hours," Revali averred, gesturing toward the building where the leaders of the four races of Hyrule had decided to meet, looming in the distance against the mountainside. "I'm not sure we'll ever come to a solution."

"I concur… I doubt there's much we can do except wait out the resolution, and try to find diplomatic solutions despite the fallout before us."

"Aye," said Daruk.

"I guess you're right."

Some time later, the champions and Zora prince disbanded, as darkness was closing in around them. Mipha and Sidon walked through the alleys of Kakariko, the streets shushed from what had transpired here.

"You know something about this, don't you, brother?" Mipha asked.

Now taller, he was no less afraid when he looked over at her in a panic, measuring the sadness in her eyes. "I-I don't know what you're talking about," he lied.

"Sidon." She stopped walking.

He let out a sigh, already having known he wouldn't be able to hide this for long. "I thought that by disavowing the credibility of the annual geisha party, we might change the world, Link and I. I asked her to kill Lady Urbosa –"

"Foolish prince!" In a flash, she had whipped her trident into his head, making him see stars as he leaned against the side of a building.

"I never meant for this to happen!" he said desperately. "I was just trying to improve the lives of humans, Zoras, and Hylians alike… I couldn't bear to see Link suffer anymore," he added, voice thick. "The nightmares Link had, the things our father ordered her to do, all in the name of prosperity… I couldn't stand it." Defiantly, he looked up at her. "If there was the slightest chance Link could be free from it, I wanted to take that chance. Of course, still, I…"

Brow bent with rage, Mipha set the end of her trident back on the ground. "You're a foolish, selfish prince. You wished with your heart rather than using your head to find the best solution for Link. And now you've only further alienated her from us. How could you?"

"What about you? You never had the guts to go against Father. Had it been your choice, you'd have allowed Link to suffer until the day she died…!"

Eyes wide, Mipha said nothing. It was true she hadn't explored the prospect of freeing Link from the king's grasp before all this occurred, but then again Link hadn't come to her with nightmares of her past. Not as often as she went to Sidon… Mipha had been busy in the public interface sector of Zora politics – such things would have had no meaning there, when everything was about maintaining the status quo of Zoras, Gorons, Rito, and Gerudo above all others. Sidon was the free spirit between them both, the only one able to see the issue with both sides and pull the strings for change. Even so…

"The last day of the conference is tomorrow," she said, no less irritated by the entire situation and her brother's childishness. "I don't expect a favorable outcome. _You_ can be the one to tell them of your foolish plan and face Father's wrath."

Sauntering through the torchlight, she left him where she had bashed him against the wall.

Entreating to the night sky and holding the side of his head where Mipha had him, Sidon wondered, _Link, Zelda, where_ are _you…?_

* * *

 **~ Night of the Setsubun ~**

* * *

"The Hylians… We got cocky."

Blue eyes lit up in the darkness…

 _The royal family awakened an ancient power once used in war, thinking it could be used to bring peace throughout the races of Hyrule, and ensure evil never again plagued the land. They thought they could use the power of the Guardians for good. It was a power designed by the founders of Hyrule and sealed away for being too strong. Serving as sentinels of peace rather than machines of war, King Rhoam believed this to be the best way to protect Hyrule from itself. Though he was warned multiple times that the Guardians strewn across the land were unpredictable and not to be tampered with, placed there to be forgotten by their forefounders, he didn't listen, drunk with the idea that he could impose a higher order on the land._

 _When the time came to awaken the Guardians on the new year, naturally they turned on Hyrule. Fire spread. Entire villages went up in flames. Families were lost, and any remaining Hylians were shunned from other societies, this arrogance believed to be a Hylian trait. Humans lived on in their designated villages, but away from the rest of the new Hyrule high class. The light of the Goddess Hylia that was said to protect our people didn't appear even in our hour of most need, for over one-hundred years, so faith in her was lost to the mists of time… until…_

Link came out of her explanation to see Zelda's confused face.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Zelda asked. "If you remember one-hundred years ago, then what are you saying…?"

From the time she met Link, Zelda believed something lay within her stance, her boundless voice, her every movement. Even now, she still believed it. The feeling she'd felt had been of traversing the plains of time, of glimpsing the wonders spread throughout Hyrule…

"It seems I've been making the same mistake as our ancestors, one-hundred years later," Link remarked. Clasping hands, the stare Link gives her tells Zelda all she needs to know.

"You and I…"

"We were never meant to exist here at this time," Zelda finishes for her. Conflict creeps into her face. "But how… how could that be…?"

They sit under the stars, only a few miles from Kakariko, in the densest part of the forest. The fire crackles beside them, the shadows on Link's face cause a ping in Zelda's heart as Link grasps her fingers tighter.

Settling down beside Link, Zelda gazes into the fire, solidifying in her hearts what they have to do.

"Zelda, we never met in our previous lives," Link says, subdued, "but I'm so glad to have had the chance to meet you. Even if our meeting was fated through divine intervention, before our times, I was happy to spend this time together. If I ever had to share my life with someone, it would've been you."

"Yes." Zelda smiled, turning toward her. Stroking the bangs from Link's face, she murmurs, "I love you, Link."

She continues to wait, seeing the fire in Link's eyes. A short push, and her tongue connects with Link's – and moans are heard throughout the forest.

Dawn breaks in the conference building, which is when all communication breaks down and the shouts increase. Guards of different Hyrulean races are charging at each other with daggers raised in hand when the Hyrule Champions rush in.

"Everyone, please hear! This meeting doesn't have to end in violence!" Mipha calls over the group, trident raised. "I understand you're all angry, but there are still things we can reconcile here!"

"Spoiled geisha girl!" someone yells to her left.

"Thinking she understands anything about our politics with the teahouse gone!" yells another to her right.

"Begone!"

The uproar begins again, with death threats and weapons at the ready, and the Hyrule Champions reason with their home race: the Revali with the Rito, Mipha with the Zoras, Daruk with the Gorons, the Gerudo standing valiantly in the center, arguing amongst themselves whether or not to be the first to strike. On the edge of it is Prince Sidon, who bursts in through the front door.

"Everyone, stop! All of this is my fault!" A few stop and listen, baffled by what the Zora prince has to say, though most argue on. "It was me who ordered Link to do what she did, because the truth is that we're all as twisted and as desperate as the Hylians one-hundred years ago, who tried their best to create a land that was free of war, and ended up subjugating those deemed to be lower than them. We have to give each other another chance!"

"You're the traitor!" the rabble exploded instead.

"Kill the Zora prince!"

Sidon hadn't expected this reaction, having drawn everyone's attention now. King Dorephan looked starkly blasphemed, him and Mipha the only still beings in the room. They began to close on him, ready to tear him apart, when from behind the light of dawn between the doorway silhouetted two figures small in stature, with elven ears. The presence of the goddess reincarnate and her ward snapped everyone's focus, sheathing them in fear.

Zelda spoke with the might of a thousand lifetimes, authority and grace in every syllable as celadon eyes glared them down. "I, Goddess Hylia, ordain you all to bear witness the pain and destruction your ancestors have wreaked." She walked forward into the crowd, adorned with the same humble and dirtied white gown she'd worn the night of her escape. "You crumble at the slightest indication that your power has diminished, though the power to define the course of another's life should not be taken lightly. Your words, your feelings, your intentions will not be forgotten across the waves of time. They will resonate and accumulate, for good or for evil. Bear this in mind as you go forward, or else there might not be a future where you can make this decision for yourselves, let alone others." The races stared at her with their voices in their throats, hardly processing her words. No, that would be left for later, when they went back to discussing the issue at hand. For now, her power was enough to keep them in awe.

But it wouldn't last long.

"Link!" Sidon rushed over in the silence. "I-I'm so sorry," he uttered, tears spilling down his cheeks as he crouched before her, taking her hand. "I didn't know you would come to like Zelda. It was selfish of me to think I could fix everything, not worrying about the consequences or how it weighed on you."

Link smiled against the sun's light, broader than Sidon had ever seen, as she rested a hand on his damp, scaly cheek. "It's all right, Sidon. I will miss you. You and Mipha." Link looked back to Mipha, who had misty eyes, and then caught Zelda's.

 _It's time._

"We came back to teach you the error of your ways," the goddess professed, "but you have to decide what future to take yourselves. Let this stand as a warning, and I pray for your renewed future."

She turned her back on them, walking toward Link, who slipped from Sidon's grasp, and then, in the sunlight of a new year, clasping hands, they vanished into the warm intentions of the children they had once been, like two spirits returning home.

* * *

 **~ Epilogue ~**

* * *

 _The sound of her mother's voice echoed in the darkness, guiding her through the vast waves of time:_

" _Oh youth, guided by the servant of the goddess  
unite earth and sky, and bring light to the land._

 _Oh youth, show the two whirling sails the way to the Tower of Light…  
and before you a path shall open, and a heavenly song you shall hear."_

 _Years later, arms wrapped around her. She smiled at the familiar voice and smell, the memory of the first time they met playing running water in her mind._

 _Finally, she was home._

* * *

 **And so, after nearly a year, I have completed this fic! Overall, this was an really experimental piece for me. I would love to hear your thoughts! I'm open to all praise and criticism. Thank you so much for reading~**


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